A huge daylight migration of neotropical migrants occurred in Duluth today, counted from the Lester River condo in the Lakeside neighborhood below Hawk Ridge. As the main counter at Hawk Ridge, I have been attempting to count all of the migrant birds moving through the Hawk Ridge area each fall, not just the raptors (details of this project published in the most recent issue of The Loon). Although I typically count non-raptors at the Lester River condo in the morning for several hours before moving up to Hawk Ridge, this morning was unusual because the migration continued until nearly noon, with the peak of songbird movement 3-4 hours after sunrise. Included in this migration were new state record high daily counts for three species, including 302 Eastern Kingbirds, 63 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and 471 Bobolinks. Also included was a morning flight of 1495 Common Nighthawks. Additional migrants were tallied simultaneously at Hawk Ridge a mile away (thanks to Andrew Longtin and Dave Carman), bringing the totals for both sites to 3272 Common Nighthawks, 304 Eastern Kingbirds, 74 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and 471 Bobolinks. Previous high counts for these species are 236 Eastern Kingbirds counted at the nearby Lakewood pumping station on 18 August 1987 (Eckert in The Loon 62:99-105), 51 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at the same Hawk Ridge/Lester River condo locations on 24 August 2010, and 250 Bobolinks on 12 September 2002 in Lac Qui Parle County (Janssen in The Loon 75:102). For full details on all species counted at Hawk Ridge and the Lester River condo each day, feel free to visit daily updates at www.hawkcount.org (raptors are counted solely at Hawk Ridge, but non-raptors are counted both at Hawk Ridge and the Lester River condo, yielding a composite total of migrants). Karl Bardon Duluth, MN
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